Babel on Demand: a Monumental Manifesto is a project by Etienne Hervy and Emilie Lamy who invited several graphic designers to create "a new collection of books with no imposed theme, leaving each guest to determine the intent of their publication". Blurb is project partner. All the books went on sale on 26 May, the opening day of the 23rd Festival International de L'Affiche et du Graphisme de Chaumont (International Poster and Graphic Design Festival of Chaumont). From September the collection will go on tour and will be enriched each year by five new publications.

As probably many of you already know: Armin Abmeier has died on Tuesday. This news made me speechless at first, and deeply sad. I knew about
his severe illness, but at our last meeting in May he seemed calm, and very
happy about the successful vernissage. I am very thankful to him for taking so
much time for our interview shortly before the planned exhibition. I sent him
the interview questions via eMail, and he answered them one after another from
the hospital using his iPad, always adding affectionate regards to our neighborhood.
For my visit of his gallery (which is near my place), he had a book by Anke Feuchtenberger
ready for me, because he read in this blog that I had only borrowed my copy of
this book and had to return it soon.

There are only a few people who do in their jobs what they really love
to do. Armin Abmeier created the Tolle Hefte and Tolle Bücher out of his
love for book illustrations and his passion for beautiful books, and he did so
with an uncompromisingness regarding his high standards of quality and design
which is very rare in the world of publishing which is mainly concerned with
things such as number of copies, target groups and marketing channels.
When I asked him about his favourite book illustrators, he responded: “They can
be found quickly by looking into the ‘Tolle Hefte’”. It’s as simple as that! I
thank him wholeheartedly for making exactly those books he wanted to make.

P&C is run by two London-based graphic designers. Their webshop, founded in 2008, is a place for their own design, things they love by other designers and vintage finds. "Paper and office objects which are inspired by homework, the post office and school." They somehow managed to find 1970s paper bags, old game sheets, old fashioned French pins from the 1950s, 1960s travel tip books, wooden magnets, produced in Czechoslovakia in the 70s etc. Please visit their website and head over to their inspiring blog, too! I love, love, love their Books board at Pinterest. There is also a good interview at Muse & Maker with shop founder Neal Whittington.

July 20, 2012

On Saturday there is a backyard flea marketin our neighborhood where we want to sell some stuff. So today I dig around in my drawers and cupboards and clear them out. Please keep your fingers crossed that it does not rain tomorrow ...

July 13, 2012

Today this German interior design magazine is still there, but looks a little bit different: www.schoener-wohnen.de. Some chairs are still (or again) the same. And some popular topics never seem to lose their relevance like "More Space in Small Apartments" or "Eating, Living, Working: All in One Room".

Tipp Tapp, originally published in France in 2011 and released this year in Germany, is an innovative project which combines a book with a digital game. Exciting, isn't it? That's how it works: By typing a word on the computer keyboard the associated image appears instantly. If you aren't sure how to spell a word, you can copy the word from the book. You can create your own sceneries and invent as many combinations as your imagination will allow: "A magnificent garden appears, night falls on your house, a whole orchestra plays music… and the connection between word and images becomes easy as pie."

Ok, though the book is for children aged 4 years (and older), a game running with my 4-year-old looks like this: He told me a word from the book to type, then I show him the letters on the keyboard (he doesn't know all the letters yet) and this way we create an animated scenerie together. It's fun! Really, I'm totally in love with the transparent geometric shapes and the funny extras - try typing FLOH or BUMM or SCHNELL (means "fast")! And he is so proud to be able to type all the words and to hold the final picture in his hands (just type PRINT)! I'm sure he will play this game alone very soon. I can only recommend this interactive book: It's such an easy way to create a whole world with words (and to learn how to write them by the way). Brilliant!